United States: Charges Filed Against a Mingo County Bank

Charges have been filed against a Mingo County bank after its involvement in a money laundering scheme centered on an Alpha Coal mining operation in southern West Virginia.

U.S. Prosecuting Attorney Booth Goodwin announced the charges Monday against the Williamson-based Bank of Mingo. The bank is charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to implement and maintain internal controls that would have detected a more than two million dollar money laundering scheme.

In the filing Monday, the bank admits that it failed to detect the scheme conducted from January 2009 to April 2012. Aracoma Contracting used the bank to structure $10,000 individual cash withdraws to meet payroll, avoid paying employment taxes and to bribe the manager of an Alpha Mine operation in Logan County. Because the amount was just below federal reporting requirements and the bank had no detection system in place, the scheme went unnoticed for more than three years. Aracoma was ordered to pay more than $4 million dollars in restitution in the case.